Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Benjamin Niolet, News & Observer:Nifong trial focuses on DNA report [updated 5:59 pm/plus audio clips] -- The chairman of the panel that will decide the fate of Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong asked a DNA expert to put himself in the role of a juror deciding the sexual assault case against three former Duke University lacrosse players.

Would it have been helpful, Lane Williamson asked, for a jury to know that DNA testing had recovered from the accuser genetic material from unknown men but not the men charged with rape?

The question cut right to the heart of the State Bar's case against Nifong, who is accused of ethics violations, including withholding the evidence.

"Does the fact that you find no DNA that matches the people who are on trial but you do find DNA of other unidentified people, knowing that you do find DNA of other unidentified people, if you're deciding, one, was a crime committed and two, was it committed by these defendants, does that fact have any bearing on your deciding in your own mind whether these three men did it?

[Brian] Meehan eventually answered, raising his voice:

"If I were a juror and the only information I had was that one-line sentence that said there was DNA there, I would want to know that, I would want to know what the hell are you talking about there's DNA here? I would want to know what it is. I would want to know what this DNA is because this could be crucial to this case."

The dramatic exchange came near the end of the second day of the case against Nifong...

discussion:LS forum: Meehan's testimony, worse -- Meehan came across as exactly what he is: a sleazy liar who thinks he's so clever that he can talk anyone into believing anything he says. . .

LS forum: Meeham's interim report -- Meeham has thrown Nifong a small lifevest but it was really to save his own skin. Meeham testified today that the report that included only "matches" was an interim report. Yeah he quickly says it was unusual to produce one of those . . . never had before but Nifong asked for the "interimn report for some court proceeding".

This deviates a little from his Dec 15th testimony wherein he said .."we would have produced a more complete report if anyone had asked"...

--------

Ted Vaden, public editor, News & Observer:Nifong's f-bomb -- Some readers may have been surprised to see this language emerge from otherwise decorous court testimony Tuesday from the State Bar trial of Durham District Attorney Michael Nifong:

Aaron Beard, AP/CBS News:Lab Director: No Conspiracy In Duke Case -- Lab Director Says There Was No Conspiracy To Hide Evidence In Duke Lacrosse Case -- A lab director who conducted DNA testing in the Duke lacrosse rape investigation testified today that Mike Nifong never asked him for a complete and final report on his work, but stressed they did not conspire to hide evidence from the defense. "

We did not withhold anything," said Dr. Brian Meehan...

In May, Nifong released that initial report to defense attorneys, who quickly trumped the news that Meehan's lab had been unable to find a conclusive match between the accuser and any lacrosse players.

However, it wasn't until much later that the defense received the background details of the test results, which indicated there was genetic material from several males found in the accuser's underwear and body, but none from any member of the lacrosse team.

In December, Meehan said he didn't include that information in the May report as part of an agreement with Nifong. Under cross-examination today by Nifong's attorney, David Freedman, Meehan said only he was concerned that releasing all that information would have violated the privacy of those tested...

LS forum comments: The AP story is totally favorable to Nifong and left out every single important point that was made for the Bar's case. . . The Drive-Bys are trying to make a horserace out of it. Accurate reporting has never been what they're after. They want to sell newspapers...

--------

Anthony Wilson, ABC11-TV/WTVD:Addison Fights Back After Letter Criticism -- The letter published in the Herald Sun Sunday was written by Durham Police Benevolent Association president David Addison. On Tuesday, city councilman Eugene Brown questioned the timing of that letter, published days before the start of Mike Nifong's ethics trial in Raleigh...

"In the newspaper, now he's saying that it had nothing to do with the lacrosse case. Then what did it have to do with, Mr. Addison?" asked Brown on Tuesday.

Addison's response: "A lot of the issues that were affecting the Durham city police department. The staffing, as far as the search for a new police chief (is concerned), some of the things that we've suffered over the last couple of months. So it wasn't directly, and nowhere in there did it state anything about Duke lacrosse, or the investigation." ...

Wrap-up [5:59 pm]--- Brad Bannon’s testimony shows how incensed ethical lawyers around the country, not only in North Carolina, became when the DA made statements such as wondering why innocent people would require lawyers...Cheshire’s letter to Nifong [5:50 pm]-- Bannon reads from Joe Cheshire’s [March 30, 2006] letter excoriating Nifong for condemning his client in the media but refusing to talk to him in person...

They have now recessed until 9 a.m. tomorrow morning.If they’re so innocent….? [5:38 pm] -- Now he [Bannon] reads the infamous March 31 quote by Nifong that if they were so innocent why did they need attorneys. “That’s alright, you don’t need to repeat it,” says Nifong’s lawyer. Bannon called the comment “outrageous,” especially from a prosecutor. “It’s noting anyone would ever be able to get away with doing in a court of law.”

Bannon points out that Evans went to the police station without a lawyer, offered to take a polygraph test, willingly gave DNA and hair samples and got his mug shot taken. “He did everything they asked him to do,” said Bannon...

Brad Bannon called [5:19 pm] -- Brocker has him [Bannon] read from March 27, 2006, news reports with some really outrageous quotes by Nifong regarding hate crimes, aiding and abetting, the “stone wall off silence,” etc. He also branded the players as uncooperative in the report. Says Nifong’s statement about a “stone wall of silence” was “untruthful.” Evans cooperated from the start, as did other players, especially on March 16, 2006 when the search warrant was executed at 610 N. Buchanan.

He describes a remarkable document in which Evans identified everyone at the party and described anything that might be helpful to police, including some unflattering behavior that occurred at the party...Defense cross of Leyn [5:16 pm]

Leyn discusses DSI’s reports [5:07 pm] -- She says just underlying scientific data is not a sufficient report for a trial, that you need a report to see what the conclusions are. Says she’s never sent just the underlying data in a report...

Jennifer Leyn on the stand [4:33 pm] -- Brocker: Did any DNA link any player to Mangum? Leyn: No. Brocker: Did you tell Nifong? Leyn: Yes. Found some player DNA on floor swabs and towel but none of Mangum on those items...

Other rape case reports [4:25 pm] -- Williamson: In any other rape cases you have reported, have you ever just listed the matches to suspects?

Meehan: We have never not done a final report. This is not a final report.Williamson: It’s the only one you haven’t reported all your findings.

Meehan: It’s the only one like this we’ve ever issued.Meehan keeps restating Williamson’s questions and then answering his version.

Shaky ground right now [10:21 am] -- Witt is asking Himan about his grand jury testimony. This seems dangerous in that Himan yesterday seemed to think there was no case, so the question arises: What did he tell the grand jury that made them issue indictments? ...

The change in Benjamin Himan [10:12 am] -- Did someone get to Himan last night? Did he get coached to improve his performance? ...The change in Crystal [10:06 am] -- Witt seems to be saying that Mangum was a very straight individual in March 2006 but was a hopeless drunk in the spring of 2007...

Trying the original case? [9:13 am] -- [Dudley] Witt seems to be trying the original case. His questions seem designed to show that Mangum was actually raped, was in pain, etc. I’m guessing that this will be used to show that Nifong was duped...

Herald-Sun:Officer: I initially believed accuser's story -- A day after Durham Police Officer Benjamin Himan testified that District Attorney Mike Nifong took the Duke lacrosse rape case to the grand jury despite his objections that the evidence was inadequate, Himan said during Day 2 of the State Bar trial against Nifong that he initially believed the accuser's story.

Under cross-examination by Nifong's lawyers on Wednesday, Himan admitted that he told Nifong in their very first conversation that he believed the accuser was telling the truth.

One of the reasons he believed the accuser initially, Himan said, is that she had lost some of her fake fingernails -- she said it happened in a violent struggle to defend herself -- and some of those were found later in a bathroom trash can. That was consistent with the events of her story. Investigators also found her purse outside a bathroom window at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., where a lacrosse party was being held and the accuser and a second dancer were hired to strip.

It was not until later, Himan said, that he concluded the accuser's stories were inconsistent and contradictory...

-------

WRAL:DNA Lab Director Takes Stand -- Dr. Brian Meehan, director of the Burlington laboratory DNA Security Inc., also testified Wednesday about three meetings in which he told Nifong, Himan and Durham police Sgt. Mark Gottlieb that there were no DNA profile matches of any lacrosse players found on Mangum, but there was DNA from four other males present.

Nifong hired the private lab to conduct further testing after the State Bureau of Identification failed to match any of the lacrosse players' DNA to evidence found on Mangum.

Meehan said he and Nifong "talked at length" about the DNA evidence and its limitations. Although there was not enough evidence to match a suspect, there was enough information there to exclude one, Meehan testified.

State Bar prosecutor Doug Brocker asked Meehan about the matches five times whether the district attorney was aware of the lab's original findings before Nifong's attorneys objected to the questioning....

------

Michael Gaynor:Duke case: Disbarring D.A. Nifong is not enough! --On June 13, 2006, I was interviewed with respect to the Duke case on "The Morning Show with Ray Dunaway and Diane Smith" on CBS Radio's Affiliate WTIC News/Talk 1080 in Hartford, Connecticut. Among other things, we discussed the conduct (actually, misconduct) of Durham County, North Carolina District Attorney Michael B. Nifong. I opined that Mr. Nifong did not make a good-faith mistake in prosecuting the Duke Three (Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans), but tried to railroad them...

In my opinion, disbarment and removal from office are not enough for Mr. Nifong. He never should have indicted any of the Three, much less continued the prosecution with the intention of trying it in the spring of 2007. He was rotten, not reckless, and he should be prosecuted, not protected from prosecution...

SBI Testimony [4:41 pm] -- SBI agent Jennifer Leyn is currently testifying... SBI would have included all the results in its report--unlike Meehan...

The Reverse Perry Mason Moment [3:19 pm] -- So, in response to a question from Nifong's own lawyer, Meehan has admitted that he's done something, at Nifong's request, that he never previously did in over 2000 reports.Meehan Cross-Examination [2:26 pm] -- [Nifong attorney David] Freedman is exploring at considerable depth the possibility that the evidence was mishandled.

More Meehan [1:48 pm] -- "He [Nifong] never specifically detailed to us what he expected to see in the report"-- despite what he claimed in his Dec. 28 letter to the Bar...

Meehan: Himan called back to say that Nifong did not want a final report that would take into account any new tests.

Didn't produce final report "because we were never asked." ...

Nifong Trial, II: Morning Summary [12:57 pm] -- The ostensible goal [of Himan cross exam: to show that Nifong could have believed a crime occurred at the time he began his preprimary publicity barrage...

But the Brocker examination exposed, to a much greater extent than we had realized to date, how much Nifong knew about the multiple unidentified males’ DNA before Nifong pursued indictments...

Meehan Testimony [11:08 am] -- Meehan has prepared a chart making clear that the entire sexual assault kit (vaginal swab, rectal swab, panties): all analysis was available on April 10, or before any indictments were made.

Meehan called Nifong to let him know that initial results were done the morning of April 10. Nifong, Gottlieb, and Himan arrived in Burlington that afternoon--for a 2-hour meeting.

Meehan: "We reviewed all of the data that we had to this point in the case." Also provided an interpretation of the tests.

"We went through--specifically went through all the results from this case with Mr. Nifong." ...

Himan Cross-Examination [9:13 am] -- Nifong attorney Dudley Witt is currently cross-examining Ben Himan, with the apparent intent of showing that Himan's investigation before Mike Nifong took over the case established that a rape must have occurred...

-------

Sarah Ovaska, News & Observer:Nifong special hits Fayetteville Street -- Carter Powell decided on today's lunch special for his restaurant, the Fayetteville Street Tavern, after looking at the television satelitte trucks parked outside for three days.

The Fayetteville Street Tavern in Raleigh has a special posted on their menu board. "Today's Special: Toasted Nifong w/a side order of National News $Priceless"

---------

Anne Blythe & Sarah Ovaska, News & Observer:Nifong had doubts, witness says -- An investigator in the Duke lacrosse case tells a State Bar proceeding the DA's private and public demeanor were at odds -- In the early days of the Duke lacrosse case, Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong looked confidently into TV cameras and declared that a racially motivated gang rape had occurred.

But a principal investigator testifying Tuesday at an N.C. State Bar proceeding said Nifong met with investigators during the same period and expressed alarm over the lack of evidence.

Himan was one of two witnesses called Tuesday on the opening day of the N.C. State Bar's trial-like proceeding on the charges against Nifong.

Nifong, who is battling ethical and professional misconduct charges that could cost him his law license, sat down with the lead investigators in the Duke lacrosse case March 27, 2006, according to Himan's testimony.

At that meeting -- 13 days after an escort service dancer said she had been sexually assaulted and 21 days before any charges were filed -- Nifong chided two Durham police investigators for the lack of evidence in a case that had put him in the national media spotlight...

Sylvia Adcock, Washington Post:Prosecutor Opens Defense of Actions in Duke Case -- testimony during the first day of a disbarment hearing against Nifong showed that both he and his police investigators had grave doubts about the strength of the case in the early days of the investigation.

Nifong "said it was going to be a circumstantial case -- he said, she said -- and that's how most rape cases are. He said it was going to be hard to prove the allegations happened," Durham police investigator Ben Himan testified...

-------

John Stevenson, Herald-Sun:Officer testifies Nifong pressed case with inadequate evidence -- Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong apparently realized early on that the Duke lacrosse case was in serious trouble but told police to take it to the grand jury anyway, an investigator testified Tuesday on the opening day of a State Bar disciplinary hearing that could cost Nifong his law license.

Durham police officer Benjamin Himan said he told Nifong in a preliminary meeting that the accuser was unable to identify three men she claimed had attacked her two weeks earlier at an off-campus lacrosse party, and that her stories about what happened that night were inconsistent...

Himan said Tuesday he participated in interviews between the accuser and the Attorney General's Office and agreed that all charges should have been dropped.

"From the interviews, it was a fact [she] was lying," the investigator said.

--------

William F. West, Herald-Sun:DA backer ejected from court for alleged threats -- Victoria Peterson, a staunch supporter of Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, was banned from attending the State Bar disciplinary hearing against Nifong after allegedly threatening the mother of former Duke lacrosse player Collin Finnerty.

Meanwhile, another Finnerty family member referred to Nifong as a "monster" and an "embarrassment."

The incident allegedly involving Peterson and Finnerty's mother occurred Tuesday after a lunch break and as spectators were re-entering the hearing site, the State Court of Appeals Building, 1 W. Morgan St.

Peterson was reportedly waiting in line at the security checkpoint near Mary Ellen Finnerty and Jim Cooney, an attorney for former Duke lacrosse player Reade Seligmann when, according to Cooney, Peterson touched Finnerty and asked, "Can I tell you something?"

Cooney said Peterson pointed her finger and told Finnerty, "There are a good number of people in Durham who think your son did something to her in that house. There should have been a trial and there should have been a jury trial so they could prove their innocence." ...

discussion:TalkLeft: A thank You to Victoria Peterson -- Victoria Peterson is an honest representation of the mindset of most of the Durham community. . . Thanks for providing the window into Durham we need, Victoria. Thanks for keeping it real.

ABC11-TV forum: Victoria Peterson gets ejected from NIFONG trail -- Peterson herself has had a few brushes with the law, making her a somewhat unusual figure to serve as citizens' committee co-chair for her county's top law enforcement official...

related:Pam's House blend blog: Crooks, thieves and a homo-bigots at the local level -- Victoria Peterson (Ward 1), said she had been arrested for trespassing while protesting at abortion clinics. Records show five second-degree trespassing charges filed against Peterson in North Carolina between 1989 and 2001. She pleaded not guilty on three of the counts, but the records indicate she was found guilty at trial...

-------

Ray Gronberg, Herald-Sun:Lacrosse committee is complete -- A prosecutor ousted as Rockingham County's district attorney last year after being accused of being too soft on crime has received the last seat on the committee that will investigate how police handled the Duke lacrosse case.

Belinda Foster, now an assistant district attorney in Forsyth County, received her appointment from City Councilman Howard Clement. He picked her at the behest of Mayor Bill Bell and the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys.

Clement had advised fellow council members that he wanted to appoint a legal-aid attorney to the investigating committee, but said Tuesday the person he'd intended to choose didn't show any interest in the seat...

You know we're f**ked." - The opinion Defendant Nifong expressed in his initial briefing from Durham Police investigators on March 27, 2006.

-------

David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times/Boston.com:Ethics trial begins for Duke case prosecutor -- Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, a prosecutor for more than a quarter century, found himself in the defendant's chair yesterday, charged by the state bar with committing ethics violations during his rape prosecution of three former Duke University lacrosse players.

Leaning back in his chair, his chin on his hand, Nifong listened impassively as a state bar lawyer accused him of making prejudicial and misleading statements to the media, withholding exculpatory evidence, and lying to two judges...

-------

Chris Francescani & Lara Setrakian, ABC News:Nifong on Trial -- Investigators Say There Wasn't Enough Evidence to Bring Indictments Against Lacrosse Players -- One of the top investigators working for Mike Nifong questioned the Durham, N.C., district attorney on the wisdom of seeking indictments against three Duke University lacrosse players last spring, according to testimony Tuesday in Nifong's disciplinary trial before the North Carolina State Bar.

Investigator Benjamin Himan testified that when he learned Nifong was going to seek first degree rape and kidnapping indictments against the players, Himan said he responded, "With what?" ...

--------

Duff Wilson, NY Times: Ethics Hearing for Duke Prosecutor -- Two of the three former students’ mothers watched opening arguments, with a group of defense lawyers and other supporters whose insistence of innocence had been upheld in April by the state attorney general, Roy A. Cooper, who called Mr. Nifong a “rogue prosecutor.” ...

Benjamin W. Himan, the Durham detective who was lead investigator on the case, said in testimony for the ethics prosecutors on Tuesday that Mr. Nifong had acknowledged to him that the case was weak and relied on the word of a woman hired to strip at a lacrosse team party...

Joseph B. Cheshire, a defense lawyer involved with the case, said in an interview later that Mr. Himan’s testimony was “chilling” and showed the potentially unchecked power of the state to destroy peoples’ lives even if the evidence did not exist...

discussion:KC Johnson:The Times Party Line -- Even to the end, the Times finds a way to get its preferred narrative into its Duke coverage...

Wilson ends the story not with a Nifong vignette but by mentioning the expulsion of "Victoria Peterson, a black activist from Durham." Note that she was identified as a "black activist" and not as the former co-chair of Nifong's citizens' committee.

-------

The Chronicle Blogger:Straight from the Nifong hearing -- My greenness showed through: I guarantee no one else was as pumped about the way cool pass they sent us for the hearings—bar code, insignia, serial number and all. Later, Clerk of Courts Dottie Miani picked me out as the Duke reporter without even a moment’s hesitation. I also repeatedly got lost wandering around downtown Raleigh...

the bombshell of the day: Himan’s testimony emphasized the inconsistencies in accuser Crystal Mangum’s account of the night of March 13, 2006, and Nifong’s involvement in the DPD investigation (Himan was also interestingly the only DPD officer who continued to be involved in the case after North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper’s office took over the case in January). The climax was the discussion of a March 27 meeting with Nifong and Gottlieb. Did the discrepancies in Mangum’s story come up? asked bar lawyer Doug Brock.

This was followed by the circus of the f-bomb being dropped five or six times by various lawyers, court officials and Himan in an effort to make sure the whole thing got recorded up to the point of slapstick...

-------

KC Johnson: Himan's Home Runs -- Nifong attorney David Freedman has promised a “blame-the-police” defense today, informing WRAL last night that “there’s a lot more information the investigator [Ben Himan] has to add on cross-examination.”

That said, unless he comes totally unglued in the cross-examination, Himan struck some piercing holes in what remains of Mike Nifong’s defense yesterday...

At the time that Nifong sought indictments against Reade Seligmann, police had no idea whether or not Seligmann even attended the party...

discussion:Betsy, Betsy's Page:Nifong's hearing -- KC Johnson has been blogging up a storm for all the details that have been revealed at what was going on behind the scenes while Nifong was fixing up his case. Nifong's chief investigator, Benjamin Himan told how Nifong clearly knew that he didn't have the evidence to back up his decision to seek an indictment...

Mike McCusker, Crystal Mess blog: "Welcome to Durham: You Know We're F'd" -- Now Benny says that he, Gottlies and Nicissist met on March 27, 2006, and discussed the various, um, problems of establishing probable cause of the crime of rape against...anyone. Crystal's inconsistent stories about the alleged assaults. Crystal's inconsistent stories about her own alcohol ingestion at the party. Kim Roberts' repudiation of Crystal's cry of rape. The complete cooperation of the residents of 610 North Buchanan. The failure of any party attendee to cooroborate Crystal's lies. Crystal's inability to identify her alleged assailants in the initial photo array. Nicissist concedes: "You know, we're f**ked." ...

"It is quite impressive that Dean Sue Wasiolek, a law grad and former lawyer, had not the slightest idea on how to handle the Duke Lacrosse situation in its infancy as indicated in earlier posts. After advising the captains not to seek their own counsel or to tell their parents because this would be swept under the rug, she went on to offer public statements all but condemning the innocent boys. [Note: Putting aside Dean Sue's erroneous prediction, I am outraged as an attorney that Dean Sue presumed to give such legal advice in view of the glaring possible conflict of interest between her employer, Duke, and the players, and as a parent that a dean would tell students not to consult with their parents and/or own attorneys.] ...

Come clean, Addison...It's time to stop hiding behind Durham CrimeStoppers and come clean with the source of the irresponsibly inflammatory language.

CHARLES WOLCOTTDallas, Texas

Durham police as victimI read with amazement the letter you printed from Durham Police Department Cpl. David Addison. Put in the kindest light, during the Duke lacrosse case Addison made written and verbal statements that have now proven to be false...

MIKE LAUSTENAshburn, Va.

------

John in Carolina: INNOCENT: Prof. Coleman’s Letter -- One year ago today the Raleigh News & Observer published Duke Law School Professor James A. Coleman Jr’s letter to the editor.

I thought some of you would like to reread it today, perhaps while you’re taking a break from watching DA Mike Nifong’s trial before the NC State Bar...

-------

Ray Gronberg, Herald-Sun:Council upset over corporal's letter -- City Council members aren't happy with what they regard as a Durham Police Department corporal's insinuation that election-year politics are behind the investigation they've ordered into the department's handling of the Duke lacrosse case.

Responses to the jibe Cpl. David Addison voiced in a letter to The Herald-Sun came Monday from Mayor Bill Bell and Councilman Eugene Brown, who went out of their way to address the matter during a morning budget review.

Brown called Addison's letter "really troublesome" and added that council members ordered the investigation to find out how police and prosecutors wound up indicting three innocent men on false charges of rape.

discussion:John in Carolina:INNOCENT: DPD Panel can subpoena -- "Should it become necessary, officials will subpoena witnesses called by the committee appointed to investigate the Durham Police Department's handling of the Duke lacrosse case, City Attorney Henry Blinder said Monday." ...There was some question before this report as to whether the panel would be able to subpoena witnesses. This story appears to clear that matter up.

John in Carolina: INNOCENT: What Nifong Didn’t Do -- While I agree with the commenter that Nifong is in a very bad position at his Bar trial, Nifong’s attorney is not wrong when he says: "Mr Nifong did not create the media interest in the Duke case" ...

comment: Never underestimate the ignorance of a "sports" fan or reporter.

-------

Weaver, TV Photo blog:Nifong Who? Paris Has a Rival -- I spent the day 90 some odd miles out of the confines of my designated home TV market covering the begining of the Mike Nifong ethics hearings in Raleigh NC....